Welcome to Andrew's Homepage!

(Top.) X-ray image of the inner Crab nebula, taken by the Chandra X-ray Observatory. The torus and interior ring lie in the equatorial plane of the relativistic wind of the Crab pulsar. The jet is directed along the poles. The radius of the torus is approximately 0.1 parsecs.
(Bottom.) The Theorist Ignites a Supernova Behind his Whiteboard, or Life Imitates Art. (Click for full sized version.)

Contact details

Curriculum vitae (abridged)

Research interests

• Gravitational waves
  • Theory of new LIGO sources: magnetic mountains on accreting neutron stars
  • Theory of new LIGO sources: superfluid turbulence in neutron stars
  • Theory of new LIGO sources: pulsar glitches
  • Source modelling for the Pulsar Timing Array
• Isolated neutron stars
  • Theory of wave-like, relativistic pulsar winds (e.g. sigma paradox)
  • Pulsar-powered supernova remnants (e.g. Crab nebula)
  • Electromagnetic particle-in-cell simulations of pulsar wind termination shocks
  • Anomalous X-ray pulsars and soft gamma-ray repeaters
  • Spin-down physics (e.g. braking index)
  • Precession
• Superfluid dynamics
  • Kelvin-Helmholtz instability and vorticity transfer in helium 3
  • Global, time-dependent flow of superfluid in a neutron star (e.g. first-ever 3D simulations of spherical Couette superflow)
  • Superfluid turbulence
  • Dynamics of quantum vortices in superfluids and Bose-Einstein condensates
  • Pulsar glitches and timing noise
• Accreting neutron stars
  • Analytic theory and MHD simulations of polar magnetic burial
  • Instabilities in the disk-magnetosphere boundary layer
  • Physics of time-dependent accretion (e.g. torque flip-flops)
• Galaxy structure
  • Statistical mechanics of cold dark matter haloes
• Pattern formation in far-from-equilibrium systems
  • Cellular automaton models of pulsar glitches
  • Statistical mechanics of biological populations
• Nonlinear plasma physics
  • Numerical simulations of beam-driven, electromagnetic Zakharov turbulence
  • Coherent wave-particle interactions: transit-time scattering and heating
  • Lower-hybrid wave collapse in the Earth's auroras

• Gravitational wave spectrum emitted by (1) an oscillating neutron star magnetic mountain - PDF file, 0.33MB - and (2) Taylor-Gortler vortices in a differentially rotating neutron star - PDF file, 0.50MB
• Two-dimensional oscillations of a magnetic mountain at the poles of an accreting neutron star - magnetic field lines (solid curves) and density contours (dashed curves) - MPG movie, 6.2MB
• Three-dimensional oscillations of a magnetic mountain - magnetic field lines (green tubes) and isodensity surface (red surface) - WMV movie, 1.3MB - and snapshot after 20 Alfven times (magnetic tension = yellow shading) - JPEG image, 0.18MB
• Helical Taylor-Gortler vortices travelling around the equator of a differentially rotating neutron star - surface of constant vorticity - AVI movie, 11MB
• Global meridional circulation of a neutron superfluid inside a differentially rotating neutron star - meridional streamlines - AVI movie, 34MB
• Three-dimensional hydro simulation of the bow shock enclosing a pulsar zooming through the interstellar medium - density colour scale - JPG image, 32kB

Research students

• Postgraduate
  • Maxim Priymak: PhD on gravitational waves from accreting neutron stars (U. Melb, 2011) ->
  • Mark Bennett: PhD on gravitational and high-energy radiation from supernovae (U. Melb, 2011) ->
  • Letizia Sammut: PhD on gravitational wave data analysis (U. Melb, 2011) ->
  • Lila Warszawski: PhD on turbulence in quantum condensates (U. Melb, 2010) ->
  • Anthony van Eysden: PhD in astroparticle physics studying gravitational waves and neutrino emission from compact objects (w/ Ray Volkas, U. Melb, 2010) ->
  • Karl Wette: PhD on gravitational wave data analysis (w/ Susan Scott and David McClelland, ANU, 2009) ->
  • Christine Chung: PhD on accreting neutron stars (U. Melb, 2009) ->
  • Matthias Vigelius: PhD on gravitational waves from accreting neutron stars (U. Melb, 2008) ->
  • Alpha Mastrano: MSc on superfluid dynamics (U. Melb, 2006) -> PhD on the origin of magnetic fields in relativistic stars (U. Melb, 2009) ->
  • Carlos Peralta: PhD on superfluid dynamics in neutron stars (U. Melb, 2006) -> postdoctoral fellowship at the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics (Albert Einstein Institute), Potsdam, Germany ->
  • Travis Stenborg: MSc on minor planets (w/ Rachel Webster, U. Melb, 2006) -> software engineer at VicRoads ->
  • Donald Payne: PhD on accreting neutron stars (U. Melb, 2005) -> scientific advisor for the Highfields sustainable living demonstrator, a project to retrofit a cattle property with geothermal, wind, and solar power ->
  • Cathy Trott: PhD on gravitational lensing and dark matter (w/ Rachel Webster, U. Melb, 2004) -> business analyst at McKinsey -> research fellow in nuclear medicine physics, Brigham and Women's Hospital, USA ->
  
  
• Undergraduate
  • Matthew Young: honours project on oscillation modes and stability of strongly magnetized stellar atmospheres (U. Melb, 2008) ->
  • Alex Lee: honours project on gravitational waves from precessing neutron stars (U. Melb, 2008) ->
  • Maxim Priymak: honours project on the structure of accreting neutron star crusts (U. Melb, 2007) -> PhD on gravitational waves from neutron stars (see above)
  • Mark Bennett: honours project on gravitational waves from glitches (U. Melb, 2007) -> PhD on gravitational waves from supernovae (see above)
  • Sebastian Saliba: honours project on hydromagnetic stability of accreting neutron stars (U. Melb, 2006) -> PhD on ultracold plasmas (U. Melb, 2010) ->
  • Anthony van Eysden: honours project on gravitational waves from pulsar glitches (U. Melb, 2006) -> vacation project on fluid flow around cantilevers -> PhD in astroparticle physics (see above)
  • John Haasz: honours project on texture-driven superfluid instabilities (U. Melb, 2006) -> world travel -> further university studies in politics and philosophy ->
  • Andre Trosky: honours project on superfluid dynamics and neutron star glitches (U. Melb, 2005) -> final year of BE degree (U. Melb, 2006) ->
  • Christine Chung: honours project on time-dependent black hole accretion (w/ Rachel Webster, U. Melb, 2005) -> PhD on accreting neutron stars (see above)
  • Melissa Wals: honours project on accretion disk dynamos (U. Melb, 2004) -> MSc on random matrix theory (U. Melb, 2007) -> PhD in quantum computing (U. Melb, 2010) ->
  • Caley Finn: part-time research on pulsar winds (U. Melb, 2003) -> honours project in experimental particle physics (Belle) (U. Melb, 2004) -> associate software engineer in signal processing at Canon Research Labs ->
  • Tobias Locsei: honours project on accreting neutron stars (U. Melb, 2003, Laby Medal) -> PhD (DAMTP, Cambridge) in biophysics studying the locomotion of plankton ->
  • Caroline Andrzejewski: part-time research on fluid turbulence (U. Melb, 2002) -> honours project on glitches (U. Melb, 2003) -> production assistant at Blackwell Publishing -> production editor at Blackwell Publishing ->
  • Tom Faulkner: part-time research on pulsar winds (U. Melb, 2002) -> honours project in particle theory (U. Melb, 2003) -> PhD (at MIT) in elementary particle physics and cosmology ->
  • Alpha Mastrano: part-time research on pulsar winds (U. Melb, 2002) -> honours project in particle theory (U. Melb, 2003) -> MSc on superfluid dynamics (see above)
  • Grant Schuster: part-time research on nonlinear dynamics (U. Melb, 2002) -> honours project in X-ray spectroscopy (U. Melb, 2003) -> business consultant at Ernst & Young ->
  • Dione Scheltus: honours project on pulsar winds (U. Melb, 2002) -> internship in optical data analysis (Gemini North Telescope, 2003) -> world travel -> DipEd (UMelb, 2004) in physics teaching and part-time teaching assistant at Scotch College secondary school -> graduate traineeship at the Australian Department of Defence ->
  • Petra Majewski: honours project on high-energy emission from AGN (w/ Rachel Webster, U. Melb, 2001) -> PhD (Technical University of Munich) in low-temperature physics ->
  • Ronak Bhatt: SURF summer project on pulsar winds (Caltech, 1997) -> PhD (MIT) in plasma and beam physics ->
  • Paul Withers: SURF summer project on pulsar winds (Caltech, 1997) -> PhD (U. Arizona) in lunar and planetary science -> postdoc (Boston U.) in space physics ->

Resources for Lecture Courses